More than Dawn Watchers

At Calvary Chapel Sydney, we have a weekly prayer meeting which begins at 6am.  When I visited Calvary Chapel Santee in the USA, I was pleased to hear they also have a weekly prayer meeting on the same day at the same time!  They call their time of seeking the LORD the "Dawn Watch" prayer meeting.  A great name, I thought.  Since we're on the other side of the world they won't care if we use the same name for our prayer meeting, right?  Prayer is intended to be a great privilege and delight for every believer.  While others might be sleeping, I want to be one who is watchful and expectantly waiting on the LORD.

A scripture association which comes to mind with the name "Dawn Watch" is Psalm 130:6:  "My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning-- yes, more than those who watch for the morning."  Who are those who watch for the morning?  One example is seen in Job 7:4:  "When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be ended?' For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn."  Job grieved the loss of his children and health, and spent his nights in sleeplessness.  He had been afflicted by the hand of Satan and could find no comfort even among his wife or friends.  Another example is seen in the book of Acts when Paul endured a storm on the sea.  For many days no one had eaten food and their chance of survival seemed slim.  After Paul shared a word of encouragement from the LORD, the words in Acts 27:29 well-describe the watchfulness of the crew:  "Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come."  These stories share the same themes:  intense suffering, lack of rest, and counting on the new day to bring fresh hope and consolation.

These examples of those who wait for the morning add force to what the Psalmist says:  "My soul waits for the LORD more than those who watch for the morning..."  This is the kind of intensity which should mark our praying.  We should seek God with more fervency than a man who has tossed and turned in agony all night.  We should desire to enter into the presence of God with more urgency then desperate men fighting for their lives.  When we take our eyes off Jesus, it is easy for us to despair.  It is natural for us to be overwhelmed by circumstances out of our control.  Our lack of entering into God's throne room of grace with prayer compounds our struggles.

But praise be to God, who has given us an advocate in Jesus Christ!  No matter how the wind and seas might rage, He is able to calm them with a word!  I love the story when Jesus slept through a fierce storm as His disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee.  Panicked, they woke up Jesus and screamed, "Jesus!  Don't you care that we are perishing?"  In their minds they were thinking, "Do something to help out, Jesus!  Grab and oar, control the rudder, help us get these sails down!  Give us a hand!"  But Jesus did something so unexpected, so divine, that they were dumbfounded.  Mark 4:39 reads, "Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!" And the wind ceased and there was a great calm."  They wanted Jesus to grab an oar:  Jesus planned to still the storm.

Out of the depths of suffering comes great hope in God.  The lamentations of Jeremiah contain the gut-wrenching consequences of sin.  Even in the midst of darkness, God's promises and truth shone bright.  If those words were written in times of ease and plenty, they would not hold half the significance they do, being spoken out of suffering few have endured.   Lamentations 3:21-26 states, "This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. ²² Through the LORD'S mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. ²³ They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ²⁴ "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I hope in Him!" ²⁵ The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. ²⁶ It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD."

Do you seek God more than those who watch for the morning?  May we be numbered among them, for great is God's faithfulness!

Counselor or Companion?

"Ahithophel was the king's counselor, and Hushai the Archite was the king's companion."

1 Chronicles 27:33

There is a difference between a counselor and companion.  Ahithophel and Hushai both played important roles in David's life, and the stark contrast of their relationships occurred when Absalom usurped King David's throne.  Ahithophel gave counsel to Absalom even as he had done with David.  He was loyal to whomever sat upon the throne in Israel.  Yet Hushai remained loyal to David and gave counsel to undermine that of Ahithophel so David might survive and regain his rightful place on the throne.  When Ahithophel saw Absalom and his men favored Hushai's advice over his own, he set his house in order and hung himself.  If you are interested to read the biblical account, it can be found in 2 Samuel chapters 15-17.

As Christians, we find a counselor and companion in our Saviour, Jesus Christ.  When we are justified by grace through faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit takes up residence within us.  He guides us into all truth not as a paid informant, but as the closest friend.  As a good husband encourages and loves his wife faithfully and sacrificially, so God tangibly reveals His love for us.  No woman simply wants counsel from her husband:  she desires a companion.  God counsels us as the closest companion.  Most people are happy to give counsel, but few are willing or able to walk the long road of a lifetime commitment to God and one another sound marriage requires.  God's love is infinite, and it never fails.

Amazing as it sounds, this is what God desires from us too:  communion and companionship.  God needs no counsel from us (a good thing to remember in our prayers!), but He desires us to be faithful companions to Him.  He wants us to remain loyal even if the entire universe were to attempt to dethrone Him.  Interesting that the word "companion" is translated as "neighbor" 102 times and "companion" five times (KJV Old Testament).  Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind.  The second is like it, to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Because of the love God has shed abroad in our hearts, we are to love God and all other people with this same love, the love of a companion.  What a revolutionary thought for us people who ration out our love depending on feelings and familiarity with someone!

Jesus says in John 15:12:  "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you."  The question then must be asked:  how does Jesus love us?  Completely, eternally, sacrificially, faithfully, graciously, without prejudice or partiality.  How can we love one another like this?  We must first receive of Christ's love and be filled with the Holy Spirit.  No man can love like this, but through the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus can love others through us.  We must be willing to be a companion to those who are lost, a close friend to our neighbors, and a lover of the unlovable.  Everyone has opinions on how other people should live their lives.  It is the love of a companion which often is completely missing.

Let's be willing to grow in the gracious love modeled by Christ:  2 Peter 3:18 says, "...but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen."

The Victor Gives Victory

"Some of the spoils won in battles they dedicated to maintain the house of the LORD."

1 Chronicles 26:27

One attribute of God's character is described in His name "Jehovah-Jireh:"  the LORD will provide.  God provided bountiful, rich land for His people whether they were employed in the fields or serving in the temple of God.  People were commanded to bring a tithe of their increase to the temple so priests and Levites who were not able to work the field or raise cattle could be sustained.  This passage also reveals spoil kings and fighters obtained from victories in battle was also brought to the house of the LORD.  It was the spoil from victory that provided the necessities to maintain the building.  It is an interesting thought, that victories and losses on the battlefield had a direct impact on temple maintenance.

As I mused over this fact, I thought about the various conditions which existed concerning the temple of God.  King Solomon built a gorgeous temple with gold, precious stones, and bronze that was razed to the ground by Nebuchadnezzar.  Even when it was later rebuilt, it did not have the same glory.  There were seasons when the doors were actually sealed shut and the inside was filled with so much rubbish no one could enter!  During the reign of some kings the book of the Law was read, and at other times it was misplaced for years!  Many factors went into the good or poor maintenance of the house of God:  wicked or righteous kings, the negligence or devotion of the high priest and Levites at the time, and sometimes the people were more preoccupied with their own houses and ceased to give.  Other times the giving was so abundant that the people were told to please stop!

My mind carried this thought another step further because the Bible teaches that Christians are now the temple of the Holy Spirit.  As it was true for the physical temple made with hands, so it is true for us spiritually:  how greatly can spiritual condition vary from person and person and season to season!  Though we have been given the victory through Jesus Christ, we need to personally appropriate and maintain the good condition of our hearts, minds, and lives.  Some seasons are filled with joy, strength, and courage.  But even after being delivered from our sins and embracing the victory affording in the person of Christ, we can become battle-weary, fearful, self-focused, and beaten down.  We can be the ones being spoiled!  We can be robbed of our joy and be deceived and influenced through the lies of Satan and our flesh.

Over time (and speaking for myself), this temple of the Holy Spirit can fall into physical and spiritual disarray.  We grow weary of cohabiting with Tobiah and his filth (Neh. 13:7), and try our best to ignore altars to idols set up in the most holy place.  We plug our ears at the annoying cries of the moneychangers and give up trying to clean up after all the animals the Pharisees are hawking.  Sometimes we are content to close up and bar the doors because we are so fed up with the cacophonous confusion!  But by God's grace, He gently reveals it is high time to make a whip purge the temple of the Holy Spirit by the authority and virtue of Christ's blood.  Because of the victory Christ has won, we are to be purified, sanctified, and consecrated wholly unto God again.

Were we unfaithful yesterday?  It matters not, long as we repent and are faithful from now on.  Love keeps no record of wrongs but rejoices in the truth without failing.  We are the temple of the Holy Spirit if we have repented and trusted in Christ.  The spoils Christ has won He gives to us that we might present ourselves as living sacrifices, holy, and acceptable unto God.  God will sustain us, but we also have a responsibility to maintain a life marked by holy, righteous, good works all to the glory of God, who has purchased us with His own blood (Acts 20:28).  Christ is victor, and freely grants us the spoils of victory:  He gives Himself according to the power of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 1:30-31 reads, "But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God--and righteousness and sanctification and redemption--³¹ that, as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD."

The Promise for your Children

When I returned to my seat at a recent conference, pamphlets titled "A Revival Promise" written by C.H. Spurgeon were placed upon each chair.  According to the back of the publication, this is a sermon taken from Volume 20 of The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit.  There was a paragraph I though particularly relevant for all those who have children.

"I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring."  Parents, lay hold greedily upon these points of the promise.  I am afraid we do not think enough of the promise which the lord has made to our children.  Grace does not run in the blood; we have never fallen into the gross error of birthright membership, or the supposition that the child of godly parents has a right to Christian ordinances.  We know that religion is a personal matter, and is not of blood nor of birth; we know also that all children are heirs of wrath until the grace of God regenerates them; but still there is some meaning in that gracious saying, "The promise is unto you and your children, even to as many as the Lord your God shall call."  Paul was assuredly not wrong, but sweetly right, when he said to the jailer, in answer to his question,  "What must I do to be saved?" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."  Lay hold of those words, Christian parents, and do not be content to get half the promise.  Pray to God to fulfill it all.  God to Him this very day, you mothers and fathers, and implore Him to have pity upon your offspring.  Cry to Him, and say, "Thou hast said, 'I will pour my Spirit on thy seed, and my blessing on thine offspring:' do it, Lord, for Jesus Christ's sake."